‘Record-high voter turnout’: PM Modi calls for higher voter turnout in second phase of West Bengal polls

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged voters to turn out in record numbers as the second phase of voting for the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections begins.In one of X’s posts, he specifically called on women and young voters to exercise their right to vote in large numbers, emphasizing their key role in strengthening the electoral process.PM Modi posted onVoting for the second and final phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections began on Wednesday in 142 constituencies, with extensive security arrangements in place and a high-stakes contest between the ruling TMC and the Bharatiya Janata Party unfolding. The outcome of this phase is expected to be crucial in deciding whether the TMC maintains its dominance in the southern region or whether the BJP is able to exert a significant influence on the power structure in the state.Voting began at 7 am with voters queuing up outside polling stations in Kolkata, Howrah, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Hooghly and Purbubadaman, which form the political and electoral core of the state.Unlike the first phase where the BJP focused on defending its gains in North Bengal, the final round of the contest has shifted squarely towards TMC strongholds. In the 2021 Assembly elections, the ruling party won 123 of these 142 seats, the BJP 18 seats and the Indian Security Alliance 1 seat.The contest centers on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s political bastion of Babanipur, where she is locked in a high-profile fight with opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari. The contest is seen as a symbolic rematch with Nandigram, where Adhikari defeated Banerjee in the 2021 elections.A total of 3.21 billion voters are eligible to vote at this stage, including 1.57 billion female voters and 792 third gender voters. Voting is taking place at 41,001 polling stations, all of which are monitored via webcast to ensure transparency.The Election Commission of India has deployed 2,321 companies of central forces in seven districts, with the highest number deployed in Kolkata at 273 companies.